During a recent business trip, I dined at a nice restaurant. It was obvious to me that they were trying to hit the middle ground between fancy, five-star dining and run-of-the-mill, average fare. The restaurant’s décor, wait staff attire, and overall ambiance all spoke volumes in that regard.

Then I was seated at my table, and within seconds, one ownership decision drowned out everything I had just perceived. I reached for the cloth napkin to place it in my lap, and out tumbled a real fork and spoon, along with a plastic knife. I was so shocked that I had to take a closer look. Yep, it was PLASTIC. It looked like real flatware, but it clearly wasn’t, as I confirmed by tapping it against my plate.

I looked at some nearby tables, wondering if a mistake had been made. Nope.
They all had the same utensils wrapped in a cloth napkin. I couldn’t help laughing out loud. I’m sure the well-dressed wait staff wondered what was so funny.

Is your business like that? Are you offering your customers a plastic knife wrapped in a cloth napkin? Are you selling a better-than-average experience, only to disappoint those who realize you’ve skimped somewhere along the way?

Let me put it this way: Are you promoting Mercedes when you’re really a Pinto?

Consistency in your messages is key to your branding. Work on it, find out what you can deliver consistently, and then market the heck out of it. Your customers aren’t dumb; they’ll figure out the real you faster than you think, and they’ll laugh too if you try to fake them out. So sell me paper napkin, plastic utensils or cloth napkin, real silverware. But don’t sell me cloth napkin, plastic knife.

Sometimes, when we look at something we react, formulating an opinion based on first impressions. We make assumptions like this every day and in most cases we are only looking at the small picture, not the big one.

What Brown does for you

You’re not the only one whose time is limited and who winces at high gas prices: Since before anyone now working there can remember, United Parcel Service (UPS) plots out delivery routes with as many right turns as possible. At first, you might respond “What’s the point?” But last year, UPS managed to save three million gallons of fuel and nearly 30 million miles with that simple technique, according to an ABC News article.

UPS vice-president Jim Winestock told reporter Brian Rooney: “I’ve been known to pass up drug stores, three or four on the left-hand side of the road, just to get to the one on the right-hand side of the road.” I think I’ll make more right turns from now on, thanks to this lesson in turning a small inconvenience into a big benefit.

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Know yourself

This is a first of a 4 part series on “Keys to Building Your Brand”. I will follow-up with posts on; “Knowing Your Audience”, Know Your Competition,” And “What Makes You Unique”

There are no “Magic” pills

At least none I’ve found and I am absolutely certain there isn’t one for marketing or building a brand. If I do find it, I’ll let you know, well maybe I won’t, but there are some key elements to building a brand. Whether you are a small “mom & pop” or a start-up with some money to blow, there are some key elements to building a strong brand presence.

First: Know yourself; take the time to examine who you really are as a company and who you really want to be. Until your picture of what you want your company’s brand presence to be is completely painted, you’ll have a hard time making it come to life. It is important that you think through the entire perception of your brand and work on making it reality.

Why is this important?

The reality is the perceptions of your customer is going to be built completely around the strength of your brand and the stronger and broader your brand the more complete the perception. Once the audience gains a perspective it’s hard to change it.

Example: You go out to dinner to a restaurant you’ve never ate at before and the food is terrible and the service less than desirable, even though that poor meal might have been the only bad meal they’ve ever served and it was the waiters very first night, your perception will most likely be that the restaurant isn’t that great, and you probably won’t go there again for a while. In fact you are probably going to tell people about your bad experience there. That establishment would now have a pretty difficult time changing your perspective and more than likely from here on out when you hear someone mention that restaurant you are going to instantly call back your perception of that place.

So perception is key in building the right brand. Once it is set in your customer or potential customer’s mind, it’s hard to change.

Perception is such a huge thing with a company’s branding, just uttering certain brand names creates an instant perception. If you say the word Volvo, you are immediately thinking safety, Harley-Davidson; you think Motorcycle and even hear a distinct sound in your mind. What comes to your customers minds?

I’d like to give you a quick branding quiz

1. Name a brand of blue Jeans (think of answer now.)
2. Name a brand of laundry detergent. (answer now.)
3. Name a brand of soft drink. (answer now.)

(see end of post for my answers)

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